You currently have javascript disabled. Several functions may not work. Please re-enable javascript to access full functionality.

Welcome to Ultimate Subaru Message Board, my lurker friend!

Welcome to Ultimate Subaru Message Board, an unparalleled Subaru community full of the greatest Subaru gurus and modders on the planet! We offer technical information and discussion about all things Subaru, the best and most popular all wheel drive vehicles ever created.

We offer all this information for free to everyone, even lurkers like you! All we ask in return is that you sign up and give back some of what you get out - without our awesome registered users none of this would be possible! Plus, you get way more great stuff as a member! Lurk to lose, participate to WIN*!

Say hello and join the conversation

Subscribe to topics and forums to get automatic updates

Get your own profile and make new friends

Classifieds with all sorts of Subaru goodies

Photo hosting in our gallery

Meet other cool people with cool cars

Seriously, what are you waiting for? Make your life more fulfilling and join today! You and your Subaru won't regret it, we guarantee** it.

* The joy of participation and being generally awesome constitutes winning** Not an actual guarantee, but seriously, you probably won't regret it!

Help With A Shimmy

I have a 99 outback limited editon 46,000 miles. Today it started to shimmy the faster I go the worst the steering wheel shakes. If I let go of the steering wheel the car pulls to the right. I have jacked it up and everthing seems tight, no rattles or loose tie rods etc. Any suggestions? Things to check and how?

thats what i thought when it happened the first time. balanced front tires, and still rough vibrations:mad:. before this point, i rotated the tires so the offending one was in the back. turns out, once i took off the wheels one night trying in desparation to find out why the vibrations were occuring and started to roll them along the pavement, one started to hop. the tread was peeling off the belts in one spot (looked kinda like a blister or a hernia). in fact, i still have one on the car, waiting for sears to get a replacement in...

The other simple thing it could be, if not a tire, is a buildup of dried mud on the inside of the wheel. This happened regularly with my '96 when we lived on a dirt road in eastern South Dakota. Once I cleared the buildup, the shimmy would stop.

I had this happen a few weeks ago on my 97 OBW, and inspecting the tires, the front left (OEM Michelin white letter tires) tire had a large "scallop" indention in it. They lasted right at about 65k miles, and their time was done.

Replaced all 4 with locally bought Yokohama Avid TRZs in the stock size, and paid a premium for them compared to $58 or so each from the Tire Rack. About 6k miles later I would still highly recommend this tire. The ride instantly went from a log wagon to a Lincoln Towncar!

It is proubably the tires like they said. If it is pulling it could be whats called a radial pull. This is that the tire is coming apart and causing it to pull. TO find if this is the problem. drive the car. if it pulls to the right, rotate just the front 2 tires left to right so the left front will be on the right front and the right front will be on the left front. if it pulls the other way then it is a radial pull and the tires are bad. If it pulls the same way, you have other problems.